Vocal Triggering of Presentation Transitions

ABSTRACT

Various arrangements for triggering transitions within a slide-based presentation are presented. An audio-based trigger system may receive a plurality of trigger words. A database may be created that maps trigger words to slide transitions. A voice-based request may be received to initiate audio control of the slide-based presentation being output by the presentation system. An audio stream may be monitored for trigger words. Based on accessing a database, a slide transition to be performed may be identified based on a recognized trigger word. A slide transition request may be transmitted to a presentation system that indicates a slide to which a transition should occur. The presentation system may then transition to the slide based on the received slide transition request.

BACKGROUND

In many situations, an efficient way to give a presentation or talk isto use electronically-presented slides. A presenter may typically pressa button or use a handheld remote control to trigger transitions betweenslides. Sometimes, a presenter may recruit another person as anassistant to trigger the transition between slides based on thepresenter's instructions. Such arrangements may not be ideal: anassistant may make mistakes while transitioning through slides bytransitioning too early or too late; a remote control may be cumbersomeand relies on a presenter remembering to press the appropriate button.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments are described related to a system that triggerstransitions within a slide-based presentation. In some embodiments, asystem that triggers transitions within a slide-based presentation isdescribed. The system may include a home assistant device incommunication with a cloud-based server system. The system may include amicrophone that serves as a primary user input interface. The system mayinclude a speaker. The system may include a wireless network interfacethrough which the home assistant device communicates with thecloud-based server system. The system may include one or more processorsin communication with the microphone, the speaker, and the wirelessnetwork interface. The one or more processors may be configured toreceive a plurality of trigger words. Each trigger word of the pluralityof trigger words may be linked to a slide transition definition of aplurality of slide transition definitions. Each slide transitiondefinition of the plurality of slide transition definitions may define aselection of a slide of the plurality of slides for presentation. Theone or more processors may be configured to create a database that mapsthe plurality of trigger words to the plurality of slide transitiondefinitions. The one or more processors may be configured to receive avoice-based request, via the microphone, to initiate audio control ofthe slide-based presentation being output by a presentation system. Theone or more processors may be configured to monitor an audio streamreceived via the microphone for the plurality of trigger words. The oneor more processors may identify a trigger word of the plurality oftrigger words within the monitored audio stream. The one or moreprocessors may determine, based on accessing the database, a slidetransition to be performed based on the trigger word. The one or moreprocessors may transmit, to the presentation system, a slide transitionrequest that indicates the slide based on the determined slidetransition.

Embodiments of such a system may include one or more of the followingfeatures: The system may further include the presentation system. Thepresentation system may include a display system for presenting slides.The presentation system may include one or more processors. The one ormore processors may be configured to receive the slide transitionrequest. The one or more processors may cause the presentation totransition to the slide of the plurality of slides based on the receivedslide transition. The one or more processors of the home assistantdevice being configured to monitor the audio stream for the plurality oftrigger words may include the one or more processors being configured totransmit the audio stream to the cloud-based server system via theInternet. The one or more processors may be configured to perform avoice recognition process on the received audio stream. The one or moreprocessors of the home assistant device in communication with thecloud-based server system may be further configured to receive theplurality of slide transition definitions. A first subset of theplurality of slide transition definitions may define slide transitionsto a next consecutive slide. A second subset of the plurality of slidetransition definitions may define slide transitions to a specific slide.The one or more processors of the presentation system may be furtherconfigured to define the plurality of trigger words based on content ofthe plurality of slides. The home assistant device in communication withthe cloud-based server system may be configured to perform a trainingprocess to distinguish a voice of a presenter from voices of anaudience. The home assistant device in communication with thecloud-based server system that may be configured to monitor the audiostream for the plurality of trigger words may include monitoring onlythe voice of the presenter in the audio stream for the plurality oftrigger words.

In some embodiments, a method for triggering transitions within aslide-based presentation is described. The method may include receiving,by an audio-based trigger system, a plurality of trigger words. Eachtrigger word of the plurality of trigger words may be linked to a slidetransition definition of a plurality of slide transition definitions.Each slide transition definition of the plurality of slide transitiondefinitions may define a selection of a slide of the plurality of slidesfor presentation. The method may include creating, by the audio-basedtrigger system, a database that may map the plurality of trigger wordsto the plurality of slide transition definitions. The method may includereceiving, by the audio-based trigger system, a voice-based request toinitiate audio control of the slide-based presentation being output by apresentation system. The method may include monitoring, by theaudio-based trigger system, an audio stream for the plurality of triggerwords. The method may include identifying, by the audio-based triggersystem, a trigger word of the plurality of trigger words within themonitored audio stream. The method may include determining, based onaccessing the database by the audio-based trigger system, a slidetransition definition to be performed based on the trigger word. Themethod may include transmitting, by the audio-based trigger system, tothe presentation system, a slide transition request that indicates theslide based on the determined slide transition definition. The methodmay include transitioning, by the presentation system, to the slide ofthe plurality of slides based on the received slide transition request.

Embodiments of such a method may include one or more of the followingfeatures: The audio-based trigger system may include a separateaudio-listening device from the presentation system. The audio-basedtrigger system may be a home assistant device that comprises: a speaker;a microphone; and a wireless network interface. The audio-based triggersystem may further include a cloud-based server system that maycommunicate with the home assistant device via the Internet. Monitoring,by the audio-based trigger system, the audio stream for the plurality oftrigger words may include transmitting, by the audio-based triggersystem, the audio stream to the cloud-based server system via theInternet. The method may include performing, by the cloud-based serversystem, a voice recognition process on the received audio stream. Themethod may further include receiving, by the audio-based trigger system,the plurality of slide transition definitions. A first subset of theplurality of slide transition definitions may define slide transitionsto a next consecutive slide; and a second subset of the plurality ofslide transition definitions defines slide transitions to a specificslide. The presentation system may define the plurality of trigger wordsbased on content of the plurality of slides. The audio-based triggersystem may be incorporated as part of the presentation system. Themethod may further include performing, by the audio-based triggersystem, a training process to distinguish a voice of a presenter fromvoices of an audience. Monitoring, by the audio-based trigger system,the audio stream for the plurality of trigger words may includemonitoring only the voice of the presenter in the audio stream for theplurality of trigger words.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory processor-readable medium isdescribed. The medium may include processor-readable instructionsconfigured to cause one or more processors to receive a plurality oftrigger words. Each trigger word of the plurality of trigger words maybe linked to a slide transition definition of a plurality of slidetransition definitions. Each slide transition definition of theplurality of slide transition definitions may define a selection of aslide of the plurality of slides for presentation. The one or moreprocessors may create a database that maps the plurality of triggerwords to the plurality of slide transition definitions. The one or moreprocessors may receive a voice-based request to initiate audio controlof a slide-based presentation being output by a presentation system. Theone or more processors may monitor an audio stream for the plurality oftrigger words. The one or more processors may identify a trigger word ofthe plurality of trigger words within the monitored audio stream. Theone or more processors may determine, based on accessing the database, aslide transition definition to be performed based on the trigger word.The one or more processors may transmit to the presentation system, aslide transition request that indicates the slide based on thedetermined slide transition definition.

Embodiments of such a medium may include one or more of the followingfeatures: The processor-readable instructions may be executed using asystem comprising a home assistant device and a cloud-based serversystem that communicates with the home assistant device. Theprocessor-readable instructions may be further configured to cause theone or more processors to cause the audio stream to be transmitted tothe cloud-based server system via the Internet. The one or moreprocessors may perform a voice recognition process on the received audiostream using the cloud-based server system. The processor-readableinstructions may be further configured to cause the one or moreprocessors to receive the plurality of slide transition definitions. Afirst subset of the plurality of slide transition definitions may defineslide transitions to a next consecutive slide; and a second subset ofthe plurality of slide transition definitions may define slidetransitions to a specific slide.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a presentationvocal trigger system.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of another embodiment of apresentation vocal trigger system.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a database that is used to linktrigger word and trigger phrases to slide transitions.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a method for establishingaudio-based triggers for a slide-based presentation.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method for triggering transitionswithin a slide-based presentation using a presentation vocal triggersystem.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Vocal triggers can be defined by a presenter such that certain triggerwords or trigger phrases spoken by the presenter trigger a transition toa next slide, a previous slide, or a specific slide within apresentation. Such an arrangement may allow a user to present apresentation without requiring any handheld equipment or help from ahuman assistant. An audio-based trigger system may have one or moremicrophones that listen to the presentation as spoken by the presenter.In response to the presenter saying a trigger word or trigger phrase,the audio-based trigger system causes a presentation system totransition to the slide that has been mapped to the trigger word ortrigger phrase.

Such an arrangement can be performed using a home assistant device. Ahome assistant device is triggered to analyze audio based on a wake-upword or phrase initially being spoken. Audio captured after the wake-upword or phrase may be uploaded to a cloud-based server system fornatural speech analysis via the Internet. The cloud-based system mayanalyze the speech to identify the presence of a trigger word or triggerphrase that has previously been linked with a slide transition. Inresponse, a request for a slide transition may be transmitted to apresentation system that causes a transition to the requested slide(e.g., the next slide, the previous slide, a next slide, a specificslide).

The audio-based trigger system may be trained to distinguish the voiceof the presenter from other voices, such as persons in an audience. Bythe presenter performing an initial training process, inadvertenttransitions that are caused by a person in the audience speaking atrigger word or trigger phrase may be reduced.

Additional detail regarding these and additional embodiments areprovided in relation to the figures. FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagramof an embodiment of a presentation vocal trigger system 100.Presentation vocal trigger system 100 may include: presentation system110; slide presentation output device 120; home assistant device 130;internet 140; cloud-based vocal recognition system 150; trigger phrasedatabase 160; remote slide presentation output device(s) 170; and remotecomputerized device 180. Presentation system 110 can represent acomputerized system that outputs a slide presentation for presentationby slide presentation output device 120. Presentation system 110 may bea computer system that executes software that allows a user to create aset of one or more slides (the “slide deck”) and output a visualpresentation that involves moving sequentially through the slide deck.Presentation system 110 may include or be connected with a slidepresentation output device that allows a slide presentation to beoutput. Slide presentation output device 120 may be a monitor orprojector. For presentations that are given in-person by the presenter,slide presentation output device 120 may typically present thepresentation in a large enough format to be seen by all of the people inthe audience. In some embodiments, a presentation may be givenvirtually, rather than in person. In such embodiments, rather than asingle slide presentation output device 120 being present, presentationsystem 110 may output the presentation to one or more remote slidepresentation output devices 170 via Internet 140 (or via anothernetwork, such as an intranet) for presentation. Remote slidepresentation output devices 170 may be computer systems operated byviewers of the presentation output by presentation system 110. Forexample, video conferencing software or a cloud-based video conferencingsystem may be used to output video and audio from presentation system110 to one or more remote slide presentation output devices 170.

Home assistant device 130 may be a device capable of capturing audiofrom its ambient environment, determining if a user is attempting tointeract with home assistant device 130, analyze the speech (eitherlocally or using a cloud-based server system), and have an actionperformed in response to the speech. Speech input provided by a user tohome assistant device 130 may serve as the primary form of user input tohome assistant device 130. Home assistant device 130 may include:microphone 132; visual output component 134; speaker 136; and networkinterface 138. Home assistant device 130, in some embodiments, may be anAmazon Echo® or Google Home®. Microphone 132 may be used to continuallylisten to an ambient environment of home assistant device 130 for one ormore particular “wake-up” trigger words or phrases. Until such a wake-upword or phrase is heard, home assistant device 130 may not perform anyadditional processing in response to received audio and received audiomay be ignored or discarded. When a wake-up word or phrase is detected,home assistant device 130 may attempt to analyze spoken words receivedafter the wake-up word or phrase. Such processing may performed locallyor remotely. In some embodiments, a spoken word or phrase captured afterthe wake-up trigger words or phrase is transmitted via network interface138 to cloud-based vocal recognition system 150 via Internet 140.Network interface 138 may allow home assistant device 130 to communicatewith a wired or wireless local area network (LAN) that is connected withthe Internet 140.

Speech captured by microphone 132 that has been determined to follow awake-up trigger word or phrase may be transmitted to cloud-based vocalrecognition system 150. While such speech is being analyzed, visualoutput component 134 may be illuminated to indicate that home assistantdevice 130 has been successfully woken-up and that received speech is inthe process of being analyzed. Cloud-based vocal recognition system 150may receive the captured speech following the wake-up word or phrase andmay perform natural language processing to determine what question orcommand the person intended. For instance, if the person asked “Helloassistant what time is it?” “Hello assistant” may be the wake-up phraseand “what time is it?” is the question that cloud-based vocalrecognition system 150 is attempting to analyze and interpret.

Cloud-based vocal recognition system 150, based on the determinedcommand or question, may transmit a response to home assistant device130 for output via speaker 136 and/or may transmit a command to anothersystem or device, such as presentation system 110. In some embodiments,a response is transmitted by cloud-based vocal recognition system 150 tohome assistant device 130, which, in turn, transmits a response topresentation system 110.

In a situation where home assistant device 130 is to be used forpresentation, a presenter may first issue a command to home assistantdevice 130 that indicates that a presentation mode is to be entered. Inthe presentation mode, speech may be continuously captured and analyzedusing home assistant device 130 and cloud-based vocal recognition system150 (regardless of a wake-up phrase or word being spoken). For instance,a user may state: “Hello assistant, please start presentation mode.”This initial wake-up command may cause the home assistant device 130 tobe placed into a continuously listening mode that is streaming capturedspeech to cloud-based vocal recognition system 150 for analysis.

Based on received speech while in the presentation mode, cloud-basedvocal recognition system 150 may determine when a slide transition is tooccur by analyzing the received speech for words or phrases included intrigger phrase database 160. Trigger phrase database 160 may be storedlocally by cloud-based vocal recognition system 150 or may be otherwiseaccessible by cloud-based vocal recognition system 150. Trigger phrasedatabase 160 may include one or more trigger words or phrases that havebeen defined by a user to trigger a transition or animation in a slidepresentation being output by presentation system 110. Further detailregarding trigger phrase database 160 is provided in relation to FIG. 3.When cloud-based vocal recognition system 150 determines that a triggerword or phrase within trigger phrase database 160 has been detected, aslide transition request indicating the appropriate slide to which thepresentation should be transitioned is transmitted to presentationsystem 110. The slide transition request may be relative or absolute.For example, an absolute request may be a transition to a specific slide(e.g., slide 3). A relative request may be dependent on the slidecurrently being presented, (e.g., the next slide, or the previousslide).

In some embodiments, the cloud-based vocal recognition system maytransmit the slide transition request to home assistant device 130. Inresponse, the home assistant device 130 may transmit the slidetransition request to presentation system 110, either via a network(e.g., LAN, the Internet) or directly, such as via an infrared, radio,or Bluetooth transmitter 139. From the point of view of presentationsystem 110, transmitter 139 may appear to be a “dumb” handheld wirelesspresenter remote control (that would typically receive input directlyfrom the presenter via one or more buttons). In some embodiments,transmitter 139 is part of a separate device that is connected, eitherwirelessly or via a wire, to home assistant device 130.

Remote computerized device 180, which may be a smartphone, laptop,tablet computer, or some other computerized device capable ofcommunicating with the Internet, either via a native application or aweb browser, may be used to present a user interface to allow a user todefine trigger phrases that are to be stored to trigger phase database160. In some embodiments, such an interface may be provided viapresentation system 110. A presenter or user may use computerized device180 to provide input that is used to populate trigger phrase database160, such as in FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of an embodiment of a presentationvocal trigger system 200. In system 200, rather than a cloud-based vocalrecognition system 150 being used, natural speech engine 221 may beincorporated as part of home assistant device 220. Therefore, capturedspeech is not transmitted to the cloud in system 200, but rather isanalyzed locally. Home assistant device 220 may also store triggerphrase database locally. Trigger phrase database 222 may functionsimilarly to trigger phrase database 160 of FIG. 1 and as detailed inrelation to FIG. 3. Home assistant device 220 may use network 230 tocommunicate with presentation system 110 or may perform communicationusing a dedicated IR, radio, or Bluetooth transmitter 139. Network 230may represent a LAN and/or the Internet.

In system 200, additional detail regarding presentation system 110 isillustrated. It should be understood that such components may be part ofsystem 100 of FIG. 1. Presentation system may include transition API212; output interface 214; slide database 216; and receiver 218.Receiver 218 may receive wireless or wired communications fromtransmitter 139 and may instruct transition API 212 to perform a slidetransition based on the data received via the transmission. TransitionAPI 212 may be a software interface that allows external devices andsoftware to interact with the software being used by presentation system110 to output the presentation. For example, Microsoft PowerPoint® mayallow for other components and software to provide input to transitionAPI 212 to cause slide transitions. Output interface 214 may output aslide from slide database 216 to slide presentation output device 120for presentation. Output interface 214 may also output an animation on aparticular slide or as a transition between particular slides. Slidedatabase 216 may store one or more slide decks. At a given time, asingle slide deck from slide database 216 may be loaded for presentationand output to slide presentation output device 120 by output interface214.

While FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a home assistant device as performing thetasks of receiving audio and, in some embodiments, outputting a signalto the presentation signal to cause a slide transition, it should beunderstood that, more generally, an audio-based trigger system may beused in place of the home assistant devices. An audio-based triggersystem may be a home assistant device or may be a device that isdedicated to controlling a presentation based on detected trigger wordsor phrases. For instance, an audio-based trigger system may be acquiredexclusively for use in controlling various presentation systems. In someembodiments, an audio-based trigger system may be an application that isexecuted by a computerized device. For example, an application may beexecuted by a smartphone or tablet computer that allows the computerizeddevice to perform the functions of home assistant device 130 or 220. Instill other embodiments, the functionally of home assistant devices 130and 220 may be incorporated as part of the same system functioning aspresentation system 110. For example, a software package may beinstalled on presentation system 110 that causes presentation system 110to execute natural speech engine 221 or transmit captured speech to acloud-based vocal recognition system for processing.

Prior to any of the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 2 being used to vocallytrigger a transition between slides of a slide deck, the presenter maybe required to assign trigger words and/or phrases and associate thesetrigger words and/or phrases with: 1) a specific slide deck; and/or 2)specific slides. Herein, for simplicity, “trigger phrases” is intendedto refer to one or more words that serves as the trigger for a slidetransition. FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of trigger phrase entries300 that may be stored in a trigger phrase database and that is used tolink trigger word and trigger phrases to slide transitions. A web-basedinterface hosted by cloud-based vocal recognition system 150 may beaccessed from various forms of computerized devices that can execute aweb browser. In other embodiments, a native application that allows forthe creation of trigger phrase entries 300 may be executed and presentedto the presenter (or his agent) via a computerized device, such as alaptop computer, smartphone, or tablet computer. The presenter (or hisagent) may be provided with an interface that allows for the followingitems to be specified: presentation identifier field 310; trigger phrasefields 320; transition type fields 330; transition destination fields340; authorized user fields 350; synonym detection fields 360; synonymscore fields 370; and audio sample 380. In still other embodiments, ahome assistant may be used to progress through voice-based prompts thatallow a user to specify data for some or all of presentation identifierfield 310; trigger phrase fields 320; transition type fields 330;transition destination fields 340; authorized user fields 350; synonymdetection fields 360; synonym score fields 370; and audio samples 380.

When trigger phrase entry fields 300 are created by a presenter, thepresenter may be required to provide a presentation identifier forpresentation identifier field 310 that is linked with at least a subsetof the database's stored entries. When the presenter desires to initiatecontrol of a presentation using trigger phrase entries 300, thepresenter may need to specify the presentation identifier. The presentermay have multiple defined trigger phrase entries in a trigger phrasedatabase for different presentations or, even for the same presentation.For example, using a home assistant, the presenter may state “HelloAssistant—Start voice control of the ‘5G Network Improvements”presentation.” Such a command may trigger the home assistant and orcloud-based vocal recognition system to access the correct entries fromthe trigger phrase database.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, six trigger phrases are linked withpresentation identifier field 310. Each trigger phrase of trigger phasefields 320 may be specified by the presenter as a word or phrase thatcauses a slide transition or an animation to occur as part of a slidepresentation. Maps to each trigger phrase may be a transition type;indicated by transition type fields 330. Transition type fields 330 maybe absolute or relative. An absolute transition may be a transition to aparticular slide. For example, the trigger phrase “5G NetworkArchitecture” may always be linked with slide 2. Therefore, regardlessof the slide currently being presented, if the presenter says “5Gnetwork architecture” while the home assistant is monitoring for triggerphrases, the presentation system may be triggered to transition to slidetwo. In contrast, a relative transition type refers to a slidetransition that is based on a current slide being presented. Forexample, if the presenter says “Next part of the network,” a transitionto the next slide may be performed (e.g., from slide 3 to 4 or 4 to 5).In some embodiments, by virtue of the presenter selecting a transitiondestination, the transition type may automatically be determined.

An additional type of absolute transition may require that a transitionoriginate from a particular slide to a particular slide. For example, if“Low-Latency Communications” is spoken while slide 2 is being output forpresentation, a transition to slide 3 may be triggered to occur.However, if any other slide is being presented, no action may beperformed if “Low-Latency Communications” is spoken since the transitionis conditioned on slide 2 being presented. Such an arrangement may helpaccidental transitions by limiting the number of active trigger phrasesat a given time.

In some embodiments, for each trigger phrase, an authorized user may bespecified in authorized user fields 350. Certain trigger phrases may bepermitted to be spoken by persons other than the presenter. For example,if someone in the audience says “contact information,” it may bedesirable for the presentation to transition to a contact informationslide, which, in this example, is slide one. In most situations,however, it may be desirable to have most trigger phrases only triggerwhen spoken by the presenter. A determination of who is speaking may beperformed in multiple ways. In some embodiments, a volume threshold isused. If the trigger phrases spoken at a volume above the volumethreshold, it may be assumed that the presenter spoke the triggerphrase. If the trigger phrase is spoken at a volume below the volumethreshold, it may be assumed that a person in the audience spoke thetrigger phrase. Such an arrangement may be based on the assumption thatthe center is wearing or holding a microphone or is otherwise closer tothe microphone of the home assistant or other form of audio-basedtrigger system. In other embodiments, the home assistant or other formof audio-based trigger system may be trained to recognize the voice ofthe presenter. In some embodiments, the presenter may be requested toperform a training process such that vocal characteristics of thepresenter may be used to distinguish the presenter's voice from otherpersons' voices.

In some embodiments, the presenter can specify whether synonyms are tobe active via synonyms detection fields 360. If active, a word or phrasespoken by an authorized user that is similar to the trigger phrase mayhave the same effect as if the trigger phrase was spoken. For examplerather than the presenter stating “next part of the network”, if thepresenter said “next piece of the network”, a decision may be made as towhether the spoken synonymous phrase is similar enough to the triggerphrase. The determination as to whether it is similar enough may bebased on synonym score fields 370. Synonym score fields 370 may beselected by the presenter or user creating trigger phrase entries 300.The higher the score, the more similar the spoken phrase would need tobe to the trigger phrase in order for the slide transition to beperformed. The score may take into account the similarity of themeanings of words, number of words, spelling of words, number of wordsthat match the trigger phrase, and/or proximity of words. In somesituations, the presenter or user creating trigger phrase entries 300may determine that only the exact trigger phrase should be spoken inorder to trigger the slide transition. For example, in the illustratedembodiment, “5G Network Architecture” is required to be spoken exactlyin order to trigger the absolute slide transition to slide 2.

In some embodiments, as part of trigger phrase entries 300 or stored ina separate location but linked with trigger phrase entries 300, an audiosample of one or more of the trigger phrases 320 may be stored. Thepresenter may be requested or required to speak the linked triggerphrase one or more times to allow the natural speech engine to learn howto recognize the trigger phrase. Such an arrangement may be moreaccurate than relying on the natural speech engine to recognize thephrase without training on the specific trigger phrase.

Various methods may be performed using the systems, devices, anddatabase arrangements of FIGS. 1-3. FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment ofa method 400 for establishing audio-based triggers for a slide-basedpresentation. Method 400 may be performed using system 100 or system 200of FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. At block 410, a slide deck may bereceived by a presentation system. This may involve a user creating aslide deck or loading a slide deck onto the presentation system, such asretrieving the slide deck from the internee or using a non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium to load the slide deck onto a non-transitoryprocessor-readable medium of the presentation system. In someembodiments, block 410 may involve the slide deck (or characteristics ofthe slide deck) being provided or loaded onto a home assistant device orcloud-based vocal recognition system. These characteristics may be usedto determine: the name of the presentation; the number of slides; thenames of slides; etc.

At block 420, a presenter or some other user, may provide definitions ofmultiple trigger phrases for storage to a trigger phrase database, suchas trigger phrase database 160 or 222. The definitions may be providedvia a computerized device (e.g., mobile device, tablet computer,smartphone, laptop computer, desktop computer) that executes a webbrowser that allows the presenter or user to access a website or anative application where the presenter or user can link entries; such asthose presented in FIG. 3, with the slide deck of block 410. In someembodiments, the trigger phrases may be received via a home assistantdevice in the form of voice input. For example; the home assistantdevice may step through a series of voice based prompts, such as thoseillustrated in Table 1, in the numbered order.

TABLE 1 Home Assistant Device Output Speech User Speech — (1) “HelloHome Assistant - Please define presentation trigger phrases.” (2) OK -What is the name of the (3) “5G Network Improvements” presentation? (4)What is the first slide transition you would (5) “An absolute transitionto slide 2.” like to define? (6) What is the trigger phrase? (7) “5GNetwork Architecture” (8) What is the next slide transition you (9) “Arelative transition to the next slide” would like to define? (10) Whatis the trigger phrase? (11) “Next part of the network”

Table 1 illustrates an example of how voice-based communication betweenthe home assistant device and a user may occur for a user to definetrigger phrases directly through the home assistant device viaspeech-based interaction. By performing such a setup of trigger phrases,the natural speech engine may receive an audio sample of the presenterspeaking the trigger phrase, which can be used to later recognize thetrigger phrase. It should be understood that the “conversation” of Table1 may continue depending on the number of trigger phrases to be defined.Further, the questions asked by the home assistant device may beexpanded to obtain data about other fields indicated in trigger phraseentries 300 of FIG. 3.

In block 430, a database (and/or database entries) may be created thatlinks the trigger phrases received at block 420 with absolute and/orrelative slide transitions. Such a database or database entries mayresemble the example entries of FIG. 3. The created database entries maybe mapped to an indication of the particular presentation with whichthey are associated. In some embodiments, the defined trigger phrasesmay be presentation-agnostic and may be reused by the presenter forvarious different presentations and slide decks.

At block 440, training of the trigger phrases may be performed. If theuser initially defined the trigger phrases by vocally stating thetrigger phrases, such as directly to the home assistant device, block440 may not be necessary. However, if the trigger phrases were input byanother means (e.g., typed into a native application or web-basedinterface), having the presenter speak each trigger phrase one or moretimes and analyzing how the user states the trigger phrase may helpincrease the reliability of detecting the transition while thepresentation is being given.

At block 450, one or more dry runs of the presentation may be given. Adry run may be may be similar to when the final presentation is given,but without an audience. Therefore, block 450 may be performed accordingto method 500. Method 500 may then be performed again for the finalpresentation given to an audience. While performing block 450, thepresenter may notice that certain trigger phrases do not function asintended. Functionality may not be as intended for multiple reasons,such as: the phrase not being detected as spoken by the presenter; thepresenter accidentally saying the phrase and triggering the transitionunintentionally; or the trigger phrase not fitting naturally into theflow of the presentation. If one or more of such problems are realizedby the presenter during the dry run, the presenter or a user may modifythe trigger phrases or the characteristics of the trigger phrases (e.g.,when a particular trigger phrase is active).

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a method 500 for triggeringtransitions within a slide-based presentation using a presentation vocaltrigger system. Method 500 may be performed using system 100 or system200 of FIGS. 1 and 2, respectively. Method 500 may be performed aftermethod 400 has been performed. At block 510, a command (which may be avoice-based command) may be received by a home assistant device, or,more generally, an audio-based trigger system, to initiate monitoring ofan audio stream for a set of trigger phrases. The audio stream may becaptured using one or more microphones of the home assistant device orthe audio-based trigger system (or through some separate audio capturedevice). The command may indicate the particular presentation that is tobe presented. In some embodiments, it may not matter which presentationis to be presented if only a single set of trigger words have beendefined and are to be used regardless of the presentation being given.As part of block 510 or prior to block 510, the presenter or anotheruser may have started the presentation on a presentation system suchthat the presentation is output to a slide presentation output device orto one or more remote slide presentation output devices.

The command received at block 510 may be in the form of a spokencommand. For instance, for a home assistant device, a presenter maystate a wake-up phrase followed by the command, such as “Helloassistant, initiate presentation control.” The home assistant device mayacknowledge the command and may illuminate one or more lights toindicate that it is actively monitoring for the trigger phrases and/oroutput synthesized speech indicating that an audio stream is now beingmonitored for the trigger phrases.

At block 520, the home assistant device or, more generally, theaudio-based trigger system may monitor the captured audio stream for thetrigger phrases. This monitoring may be performed by analyzing capturedspeech using a cloud-based vocal recognition system as in system 100 ora local natural speech engine as in system 200. At block 530, as part ofthe audio stream, a trigger phrase that previously defined may beidentified. If the presenter has activated the feature, a synonym of thetrigger phrase having a score above a defined threshold may beidentified at block 530 instead of the exact trigger phrase.

At block 540, in response to detecting the trigger phrase, a slidetransition that is to occur may be determined. This slide transition maybe absolute (to a particular slide) or relative (e.g., to a next or aprevious slide). The slide transition may be determined by accessing adatabase entry, such as one of the database entries illustrated in FIG.3, and accessing an indication of the slide transition mapped to atrigger phrase.

At block 550, a slide transition request based on the determinationblock 540 may be transmitted to the slide presentation system. The slidetransition request may be transmitted to software that is outputting thepresentation via an API of the presentation software. The slidetransition request may indicate: the slide to which the transitionshould occur; a next slide command; a previous slide command; and/or oneor more conditions that are required to be true for the slide transitionto be performed. For example, a slide transition request may indicatethat the slide transition should only be performed if the currentlypresented slide is slide 2.

At block 560, in response to block 550, the slide transition may beperformed by the slide presentation system and/or the software beingexecuted that is outputting the slide deck for presentation. If one ormore of the conditions of block 550 is determined to be false, block 560may not be performed. For example, referring to the previous example, ifit is determined that the currently presented slide is not slide 2,block 560 may not be performed in response to the identified triggerphrase.

The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Variousconfigurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures orcomponents as appropriate. For instance, in alternative configurations,the methods may be performed in an order different from that described,and/or various stages may be added, omitted, and/or combined. Also,features described with respect to certain configurations may becombined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elementsof the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. Also,technology evolves and, thus, many of the elements are examples and donot limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

Specific details are given in the description to provide a thoroughunderstanding of example configurations (including implementations).However, configurations may be practiced without these specific details.For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, andtechniques have been shown without unnecessary detail in order to avoidobscuring the configurations. This description provides exampleconfigurations only, and does not limit the scope, applicability, orconfigurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of theconfigurations will provide those skilled in the art with an enablingdescription for implementing described techniques. Various changes maybe made in the function and arrangement of elements without departingfrom the spirit or scope of the disclosure.

Also, configurations may be described as a process which is depicted asa flow diagram or block diagram. Although each may describe theoperations as a sequential process, many of the operations can beperformed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of theoperations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps notincluded in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may beimplemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode,hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. Whenimplemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the programcode or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium.Processors may perform the described tasks.

Having described several example configurations, various modifications,alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departingfrom the spirit of the disclosure. For example, the above elements maybe components of a larger system, wherein other rules may takeprecedence over or otherwise modify the application of the invention.Also, a number of steps may be undertaken before, during, or after theabove elements are considered.

1. A system that triggers transitions within a slide presentation, thesystem comprising: a home assistant device in communication with acloud-based server system, comprising: a microphone that serves as aprimary user input interface; a speaker; a wireless network interfacethrough which the home assistant device communicates with thecloud-based server system; and one or more processors in communicationwith the microphone, the speaker, and the wireless network interface,wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive aplurality of slide transition definitions from a user, wherein: a firstsubset of the plurality of slide transition definitions that defines oneor more relative slide transitions; and a second subset of the pluralityof slide transition definitions that defines an absolute slidetransition to a specific slide; receive a plurality of trigger wordsfrom the user, wherein: each trigger word of the plurality of triggerwords is linked to a slide transition definition of the plurality ofslide transition definitions; and each slide transition definition ofthe plurality of slide transition definitions defines a selection of aslide of the plurality of slides for presentation; create a databasethat maps the plurality of trigger words to the plurality of slidetransition definitions; receive a voice request, via the microphone, toinitiate audio-based control of the slide presentation being output by apresentation system; monitor an audio stream received via the microphonefor the plurality of trigger words; identify a trigger word of theplurality of trigger words within the monitored audio stream; determine,based on accessing the database, a slide transition to be performedbased on the trigger word; and transmit, to the presentation system, aslide transition request that indicates a slide to be presented based onthe determined slide transition.
 2. The system that triggers transitionswithin the slide-based presentation of claim 1, the system furthercomprising: the presentation system, comprising: a display system forpresenting slides; and one or more processors, wherein the one or moreprocessors are configured to: receive the slide transition request; andcause the presentation to transition to the slide of the plurality ofslides based on the received slide transition.
 3. The system thattriggers transitions within the slide-based presentation of claim 1,wherein the one or more processors of the home assistant device beingconfigured to monitor the audio stream for the plurality of triggerwords comprises the one or more processors being configured to: transmitthe audio stream to the cloud-based server system via the Internet; andperform a voice recognition process on the received audio stream. 4.(canceled)
 5. The system that triggers transitions within theslide-based presentation of claim 1, wherein the one or more processorsof the presentation system are further configured to define theplurality of trigger words based on content of the plurality of slides.6. The system that triggers transitions within the slide-basedpresentation of claim 1, wherein the home assistant device incommunication with the cloud-based server system is configured to:perform a training process to distinguish a voice of a presenter fromvoices of an audience, wherein the home assistant device incommunication with the cloud-based server system that is configured tomonitor the audio stream for the plurality of trigger words comprisesmonitoring only the voice of the presenter in the audio stream for theplurality of trigger words.
 7. A method for triggering transitionswithin a slide presentation, the method comprising: receiving, by anaudio-based trigger system, a plurality of slide transition definitionsfrom a user, wherein: a first subset of the plurality of slidetransition definitions that defines one or more relative slidetransitions; and a second subset of the plurality of slide transitiondefinitions that defines an absolute slide transition to a specificslide; receiving, by the audio-based trigger system, a plurality oftrigger words from the user, wherein: each trigger word of the pluralityof trigger words is linked to a slide transition definition of aplurality of slide transition definitions; and each slide transitiondefinition of the plurality of slide transition definitions defines aselection of a slide of the plurality of slides for presentation;creating, by the audio-based trigger system, a database that maps theplurality of trigger words to the plurality of slide transitiondefinitions; receiving, by the audio-based trigger system, a voicerequest to initiate audio-based control of the slide presentation beingoutput by a presentation system; monitoring, by the audio-based triggersystem, an audio stream for the plurality of trigger words; identifying,by the audio-based trigger system, a trigger word of the plurality oftrigger words within the monitored audio stream; determining, based onaccessing the database by the audio-based trigger system, a slidetransition definition to be performed based on the trigger word;transmitting, by the audio-based trigger system, to the presentationsystem, a slide transition request that indicates the slide based on thedetermined slide transition definition; and transitioning, by thepresentation system, to a slide to be presented of the plurality ofslides based on the received slide transition request.
 8. The method fortriggering transitions within the slide-based presentation of claim 7,wherein the audio-based trigger system comprises a separateaudio-listening device from the presentation system.
 9. The method fortriggering transitions within the slide-based presentation of claim 8,wherein the audio-based trigger system is a home assistant device thatcomprises: a speaker; a microphone; and a wireless network interface.10. The method for triggering transitions within the slide-basedpresentation of claim 9, wherein the audio-based trigger system furthercomprises a cloud-based server system that communicates with the homeassistant device via the Internet.
 11. The method for triggeringtransitions within the slide-based presentation of claim 10, whereinmonitoring, by the audio-based trigger system, the audio stream for theplurality of trigger words comprises: transmitting, by the audio-basedtrigger system, the audio stream to the cloud-based server system viathe Internet; and performing, by the cloud-based server system, a voicerecognition process on the received audio stream.
 12. (canceled)
 13. Themethod for triggering transitions within the slide-based presentation ofclaim 7, wherein the presentation system defines the plurality oftrigger words based on content of the plurality of slides.
 14. Themethod for triggering transitions within the slide-based presentation ofclaim 7, wherein the audio-based trigger system is incorporated as partof the presentation system.
 15. The method for triggering transitionswithin the slide-based presentation of claim 7, further comprising:performing, by the audio-based trigger system, a training process todistinguish a voice of a presenter from voices of an audience, whereinmonitoring, by the audio-based trigger system, the audio stream for theplurality of trigger words comprises monitoring only the voice of thepresenter in the audio stream for the plurality of trigger words.
 16. Anon-transitory processor-readable medium comprising processor-readableinstructions configured to cause one or more processors to: receive aplurality of slide transition definitions from a user, wherein: a firstsubset of the plurality of slide transition definitions that defines oneor more relative slide transitions; and a second subset of the pluralityof slide transition definitions that defines an absolute slidetransition to a specific slide; receive a plurality of trigger wordsfrom the user, wherein: each trigger word of the plurality of triggerwords is linked to a slide transition definition of the plurality ofslide transition definitions; and each slide transition definition ofthe plurality of slide transition definitions defines a selection of aslide of the plurality of slides for presentation; create a databasethat maps the plurality of trigger words to the plurality of slidetransition definitions; receive a voice request to initiate audio-basedcontrol of a slide presentation being output by a presentation system;monitor an audio stream for the plurality of trigger words; identify atrigger word of the plurality of trigger words within the monitoredaudio stream; determine, based on accessing the database, a slidetransition definition to be performed based on the trigger word; andtransmit to the presentation system, a slide transition request thatindicates a slide to be presented based on the determined slidetransition definition.
 17. The non-transitory processor-readable mediumof claim 16, wherein the processor-readable instructions are executedusing a system comprising a home assistant device and a cloud-basedserver system that communicates with the home assistant device.
 18. Thenon-transitory processor-readable medium of claim 17, wherein theprocessor-readable instructions are further configured to cause the oneor more processors to: cause the audio stream to be transmitted to thecloud-based server system via the Internet; and perform a voicerecognition process on the received audio stream using the cloud-basedserver system.
 19. The non-transitory processor-readable medium of claim18, wherein the processor-readable instructions are further configuredto cause the one or more processors to: receive the plurality of slidetransition definitions wherein: a first subset of the plurality of slidetransition definitions defines slide transitions to a next consecutiveslide; and a second subset of the plurality of slide transitiondefinitions defines slide transitions to a specific slide.